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Cole Waterman | cwaterma@mlive.com

About Me:

Cole Waterman, a Freeland-area native, predominantly covers crime and court matters in Bay County, but also dabbles in pop culture writing via his weekly column. He has lived in Bay City for several years and has a bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from Saginaw Valley State University. His long-term goals are to be a published fiction writer and to live in New Mexico.

SHERM,
It seems they are indeed American citizens. They recently moved to the area from California and two of the suspects work(ed) at Buffalo Wild Wings for several years, apparently being transferred to the local restaurant.

Hello all,
I've posted an article with Judge Kelly's response. A link to it has been embedded in the above story, but you can also read it here: http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2012/05/bay_county_district_judge_timo.html

LadyBuggs,
It seems Nationwide isn't arguing Mathews deliberately set the fire. Assuming for the sake of argument it was an accidental fire, Nationwide is alleging the accident occurred through the commission of illegal activity, thus voiding the insurance policy. So, in effect, I believe your analogy would be correct — that if you accidentally burn your property while doing something legal, you're covered; if you cause a fire by doing something illegal, then you are not covered.

One possible, and frequent, reason plea offers are made to sex offenders is to spare the victim from having to testify. If a case proceeds to trial, the victim almost certainly has to testify. To some, that effectively doubles the trauma the victim already went through. Thus, that potential reliving of such a horrible experience is prevented by a plea deal.

Donwhitenormangrind,
According to the suit, Nationwide already paid McDermott. The insurer is seeking to have its money returned after finding out their client reportedly allowed illegal activity to occur on the premises, effectively voiding the insurance policy.

Why Nationwide paid out before the cause of the fire was determined is another matter. Attorneys representing Nationwide told me they cannot comment on pending litigation, so the matter may not be resolved any time soon.

Bowersfan,
Prior to the dawn of Islam, most Middle Eastern nations were far more abusive in their conduct toward women. Muhammad made a point to give women rights which were very progressive for their time. He declared women as equal to men and allowed them the right to education, to not be forced into marriage and to initiate divorce. True, Muslim women (and men) are to dress "modestly," but the stereotype of all Muslim women having to wear completely concealing burqas is far from accurate. Iran and Saudi Arabia require this, but those countries comprise about 6.2 percent of the world's Muslim population. As with all religions, various sects and denominations have different rules and standards of living for their adherents, and taking the most extreme forms of any given faith to represent the religion as a whole is unfair.

Regarding how Muslim nations are "backward," much of what you're referring to is a result of what followed the Islamic Golden Age, akin to Europe's Dark Ages. It seems the Crusades and attacks from Eastern Asian Mongols triggered this decline. Similarly to how the 9/11 attacks made many Americans equate all Muslims with terrorism, the aftermath of the Crusades left many in the Muslim world equating Christianity with barbarism and cruelty.

Lastly, Islam is the world's second largest religion, after Christianity. Love it or hate it, it is a fact that Islam is far from being on the same level as Scientology or the Branch Davidians.

Nikalseyn,
The Golden Age of Islam, roughly 750 C.E. to 1250 C.E., contributed quite a diverse assortment of cultural developments, among them algebra and trigonometry and advancements in astronomy, medicine, geography and architecture. Even non-Islamic philosophy was spread as a result of Muslim expansion. And while they were a conquering force, the early Muslims were far from the barbarian hordes they've been depicted as, instituting libraries, schools and various public works in the nations they invaded. Islam founder Muhammad further devised rules of war explaining how women, children and noncombatants were to be treated humanely during conflicts. (It's no coincidence Muhammad's image appears emblazoned on the U.S. Supreme Court's frieze of historical lawgivers.) Later, during the Crusades, Sunni Muslim and sultan Saladin was widely respected by his Christian enemies for his degree of chivalry and honor.

Regarding what Islam "stole" from other religions, all I can say is every Western monotheism since Zoroastrianism was influence by what came before. From Judaism came Christianity, from which came Islam, from which (with Hinduism) came Sikhism and Baha'i. None of these religions exist in a vacuum.

Shanedr,
You bring up some good points, and I can't say I disagree with you about the more minimal government model. Why over complicate matters, right? If only Occam's razor could be applied to government.

Beetlebomb,
Corrupt powers-that-be are all but essential as the villains for mythical hero-making. This goes all the way back to Greek mythology, with the gods and goddesses conspiring against the heroes. In the Kid's case, the role of a vengeful Zeus or Poseidon was filled by the Santa Fe Ring, a clique of politicians, bankers, attorneys, and merchants. Interestingly, the story of the hero takes on more resonance when he gives his all but remains unable to best the gods' insurmountable tasks, making the protagonist a martyr of sorts. On my website, I have a longer article I wrote pointing out the hallmarks of Greek mythology present in the Kid's story.